Friday, May 06, 2011

A set of photos purportedly taken from an exterior "Dark Knight Rises" set in Jaipur, India - which I'm unable to directly link to at this time - show a deep pit with a huge green-screen tarp at its bottom. Typically, this technique is used for making a "real" hole appear filled with something (lava, slime, water or "something else") in post-production CGI. And if you know your Batman, animated series in particular, you know what conclusion people are jumping to.

Do I think that's what it is? No, I doubt it. But would it be awesome? Yes. Yes it would.

Personally, I really hope Nolan sticks to the realism and away from the mystic end of all this.Not that I dislike the Lazerus pit but for Nolan, I hope he keeps it straight. Let the reboot go as fantastic as it wishes to.

Or what would be cool if the film leads us to believe its all magic, Lazerus Pit and all, even trick Batman into believing it. Then, at the end, have it all be a lie by Ra, just a trick. That would be awesome (like how Last Exorcism almost was before the shitty last-minute ending). In my opinion, of course.

Chances are it's nothing to do with DKR. Nolan and Warners would NOT do anything so esoteric for a third Batman film. I keep saying this, but sadly, Bob's common sense is failing along with the rest of the fanboys on the internet.

Movies are made for the wide, general audience. Nolan has been vehement about his Batman franchise not going down that route. There will be no Talia. Nobody cares about her except for fans of Grant Morrison's Bat-run. The wide, general audience couldn't care less.

The more fans - and Bob - keep supporting these things, the more it might pressure Warners to force Nolan to do it (a la fans wanting Venom in Spidey 3, causing Sony to force Raimi into doing it).

And don't pretend that's not what happened. You bet your ass it is.

I know Cotillard and JGL weren't actually supposed to be in the film, but their roles were instead shoe-horned into the narrative later on to satiate masturbatory fanboy whining. If that comes at the expense of the overall quality of the film, it will be no one's fault but the fans.

I sincerely hope - at the least - their parts didn't replace other characters' roles (namely Bullock and Montoya, among others).

Bob is referring to the Lazarus Pits, the source of Ra's al Ghul's immortality. In the animated series it was visualized as giant stew of bubbling, sickly green chemicals. The green tarp alone is probably what is sending Timmvers fans into a speculative frenzy.

As for whether or not it would work in the movie, I'm not sure. If it was an honest to god Lazarus Pit, then Liam Neeson needs to come back. It wouldn't fit with the previous two movies at all, but the return of Qui-gone-wrong just might be worth it, if handled well.

But since Bane has already been listed as the top heavy of the movie, I say keep the number of supervillains to a minimum. If Batman and Robin and Spiderman 3 have taught us anything, its that too many supervillians can get out of hand really quickly, and gives none of the characters any space to breathe.

Maybe and I'm just spit balling here the pit and its liquid has something to do with Venom(Banes drug of Choice). It might make since in Nolan's movie world that the goo in the Lazarus pit in a key venom ingredient. Again this is just me thinking out loud.

Thanks Jwillx70. That would be... Interesting. But didn't Ra's al Ghul die in Batman Begins? Then again, if he's immortal, then he can't really die... Or maybe he's got another freaking decoy. Either way, it kind of clashes with the ultra-realistic setting the Nolan Batman series is trying to create.

You are REALLY determined to see the Lazarus Put play a part in a Bat-movie, aren't you, Bob?

Well, good news: it's already happened. Go watch "Batman: Under the Red Hood", a good-if-not-great DTV animation released last year in which the Lazarus Pits play a rather prominent role in things.

See? It is in fact possible for you to get the fantastical elements of Batman [i]without[/i] forcing Nolan to effectively abandon his own vision of Batman and his world so as to conform with your own. Despite your insistence otherwise, geek culture does not boil down into a strict "realism/fantasy" divide, and it is entirely possible for both to exist. Simultaneously, no less.

I remember when the new "Mortal Kombat" video game was announced shortly following the "Mortal Kombat: Legacy" trailer, and you pointed at it and said, in effect, "see? That's how it's [i]done[/i]!" And y'know, I can respect that sentiment, but to me I point at that and say "see? It is in fact possible for a version of a pre-existing franchise which sticks close to what it's always been to co-exist peacefully with a radically different interpretation of it".

I don't give a toss about realism, but I second MagnaPurvis's idea about the Lazarus Pits being more smoke-and-mirrors by the League of Shadows, to make their enemies think that Ra's is indeed immortal.

I doubt the League of Shadows would just go down once Liam was dead. What was it Lady Eboshi said, about "Cut off a wolf's head, and it still has the power to bite."

Tip Jar (y'know, if you feel like it)

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About Me

Bob is a part-time independent filmmaker, part-time amateur film critic and full time Movie Geek. He is heterosexual, a pisces, and a severely lapsed Catholic. He is a tireless enemy of censorship, considers his personal politics "Libertine" and enjoys acting as a full time irritant to overly serious people of ALL political stripes.